Madaraka

Download or read book Madaraka written by Wanyee Kinuthia and published by Wanyee Kinuthia. This book was released on 2014-02-15 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Madaraka” is the Swahili word for self determination. Article 2 of the United Nations 1960 Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples states: “all peoples have the right to self-determination; by virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development." This book goes beyond the simplistic explanations that are routinely provided regarding the failure of corporate globalization, and draws attention to the political economy of this exploitative system, in order to effectively address it. The book is divided into four parts. The first part is comprised of the author’s Master’s thesis, which is accessible online through the University of Ottawa (Ottawa, Canada), as well as Library and Archives Canada. This section serves as the foundation of the book by providing a critique of the political economy of corporate globalization, as seen through the lens of the exploitative global corporate extractive industry, which is marked by increasing inequality, oppression, and the exploitation of both people and the natural environment, exclusively for the pursuit of profit. The second part of the book focuses on Africa, and provides an overview of the impact of corporate globalization on the continent. The African experience also demonstrates the contemporary relevance of “dependency theory,” and how the continent’s dependence on “export-led growth” is enforced via Africa’s illegitimate “debt burden.” This explains why African states have been unable to diversify from their dependence on natural resources and chart independent economic paths. The third part of the book discusses the securitization of U.S. foreign economic policy/corporate globalization via the U.S-led War on Terror, and explores a number of initiatives along the security/development nexus. These include the U.S.’s National Security Strategy (NSS) and the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA). This section also discusses the subject of fragile/failed states and explains the basic rationale behind U.S. foreign economic policy: that fragile/failed states need to embrace neoliberal economic/corporate globalization through market-led policies, in order to overcome poverty and cease being threats to the more ordered parts of the world. The final part of the book critiques The 9/11 Commission Report, which contains the “official account” of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and is used to justify the U.S-led War on Terror. However, this key document lacks sufficient evidence and cannot be used to support a prosecutable case in any court of law. The final part of the book goes a step further and explores the use of state terrorism by Northern countries, particularly the U.S., in its efforts to spread its foreign economic policy/corporate globalization worldwide. This section also discusses the historical use of false-flag terrorism by Northern countries, in order to further their foreign policy objectives, including well-known and documented examples such as “Operation Northwoods,” “Operation Gladio,” and “The Lavon Affair.” The book concludes by proposing a radical but necessary solution to the crisis of corporate globalization: that we challenge the authenticity of The 9/11 Commission Report, and therefore, the legitimacy of the U.S-led War on Terror. More specifically, that we demand a new and independent investigation into the events surrounding 9/11, as this is an indispensable prerequisite to de-securitizing U.S. foreign economic policy/corporate globalization. 9/11 is the Achilles Heel of the entire system of economic exploitation and oppression via neoliberal economic/corporate globalization – a system whose main objective is to open up the economies of developing countries to corporations, which are mostly based in Northern countries, so that these corporations can “increase their market share, and thereby the wealth of Northern elites." Website: www.madaraka.net